Just about anyone can press or the record button on a camera or a computer, but editing a video requires some special tools and know-how. The continually increasing number of videos shared on the internet indicates a shift from text-based to video-based content. Whether it is a tutorial, training, or product demonstration, people prefer to watch it rather than read it. That means more people are on a quest to find full-featured video editing programs that can create high-quality videos with the least difficulty. One such video editor is Camtasia.
What Is Camtasia?
Camtasia is a computer screen recording and video editing program that works on Windows and Mac. The software supports most video formats and is equipped with features that make it easy to create a video tutorial and demonstration.
The powerful screen recorder/video editing software has gained rapid popularity, with over 24 million people using it. The good news is that it offers both a free and paid plan.
So you can test the program for free to see if it meets your needs before buying it. To download the free trial, click here. Note that the 30-day trial version is fully functional, meaning there are no unusable features.
However, there is a watermark across your output because the trial version is only for evaluation purposes, and not for sharing your edits. The full version has a couple of paid-plans, including individual plans (starting at $249), an education plan (discounted up to $152.10 for 15 to 24 users), and others.
The software has been touted as one of the best screencasting tools available and is considered the industry standard when it comes to screen recording. But is Camtasia good for video editing? Beginners, as well as professional video editors, don’t just want a program that will capture their screen, especially if they are not so keen on creating tutorials.
YouTubers and other social media users who would like to share videos online, for example, need a powerful tool that will combine professional video editing with simplicity. Thankfully, Camtasia offers these solutions. Although many people think of the software as a screen recorder, it excels in editing whatever users may have captured, and it provides the option to share finished videos on different platforms and formats.
It can be argued that Camtasia is not as robust as some of the powerful video editing tools, particularly when viewed side-by-side with programs such as Final Cut and Adobe Premiere. However, Camtasia was created with the novice in mind. The benefit of this is that while the software may not offer all the features of a high-tech video editor, users without in-depth video editing experience can use the tool to create professional-looking videos easily and quickly.
The above notwithstanding, Camtasia is not basic in any way. It comes loaded with a tastefully furnished set of library assets or templates, including audio files, motion graphics, and images that blends perfectly to form quality edits. Working with these features, anyone can quickly design fantastic videos, regardless of their experience.
One impressive thing about Camtasia that makes it a popular choice among users is its highly intuitive user interface. Using the program is pretty straightforward as the tools and options are easy to understand and use. Many of the options are easy to find, which makes navigating the user-friendly platform a lot easier.
Components and Features
Camtasia is comprised of two major components:
- Recorder: This tool lets users record high-quality videos and audio right from their computer screen.
- Editor: This is the multimedia authoring tool with a timeline where multiple media clips can be inserted and managed simultaneously to create powerful edits. This is the component that makes Camtasia good for video editing, and for which the entire product is named.
Creating superb videos in Camtasia generally follows three simple steps.
- First, capture your screen.
- Then you can add in and combine different media (images, video clips, PowerPoint presentations, and audios).
- Lastly, edit the various media to create one professional output.
Camtasia makes video editing simple with its industry-standard timeline that allows multiple clips to be inserted into different tracks. You can trim, combine, and split video clips. You can also alter footage speed – slowing or speeding it up. You can add a bunch of effects to your clips, including animations, titles, audio effects, annotations, transitions, highlights, video effects, and so much more.
Here’s a direct answer to the question, “Is Camtasia good for video editing?” Yes, it is! And not just for the reasons given above but because of the following powerful tools and features:
- Multi-track Timeline: This feature lets you add different types of media to your timeline, including text, audio, images, and videos.
- High definition media: With Camtasia, you can import 4k resolution video clips into your work.
- Webcam recording: This allows you to add a recording of yourself into your videos. It is a particularly useful feature for presentations, demonstrations, and how-to videos.
- Voice narration: This allows you to add context to your videos.
- Interactivity: Camtasia lets you create quizzes or quick surveys in your videos to get the answers and opinions of your viewers. For example, creating interactions is an excellent way to engage those who watch your video if you produce training videos or tutorials.
- Green screen: This is one of the most attractive and powerful features of Camtasia. It makes it easy to include objects (images, objects, and a video of yourself) in your videos as if those things are actually in the video.
Tutorials
Not yet convinced? Here’s a short tutorial for those who may still be asking, “is Camtasia good for video editing?” The quick explanations below will show you a few editing basics using this powerful all-in-one screen recorder and video editor.
The Media Bin
To begin working on your project, you have to first import media (video clips, audio, and images) into the media bin. You can drag media from the bin to their respective tracks on the timeline. Camtasia supports the following file formats:
- Video files: MPEG, MP4, MPG, MOV, AVI, WMV, MTS, and M2TS
- Audio files: MP3, M4A, WAV, and WMA
- Image files: JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF, JPG, and PDF
- Camtasia recording files: TREC
- Other files: SAMI, PPTX, PPT, and SRT
The Timeline
Videos created in Camtasia are arranged sequentially from left to right on the timeline. Your media are added and edited on the timeline. The timeline consists of layers (known as tracks). If you place a media on an upper track (layer), the clip covers other ones in the lower track.
The Canvas
You can preview your project from the canvas. When you playback your edits, the play head moves across the timeline and shows the content on the canvas. You can also do some basic tasks right inside the canvas. For example, you can resize, position (or reposition), and rotate an image on the canvas. Your final video is a replica of what is shown on the canvas. So, if something is showing on the canvas that you will not want in your final output, you can remove or adjust it while previewing your project.
Removing Extra Footage (Trim)
Sometimes, it is necessary to remove extra footage (perhaps at the beginning or end) of our video. This is called trimming. To trim a clip in Camtasia:
- Click the clip and drag it in.
- To trim several clips all at once, select all of them and hover over the edge of one of the clips before dragging.
- If you make a mistake and trim too much, simply hover over the edge of the trimmed clip and drag back the clip. Instead of deleting your media, trimming crops it. So dragging back a trimmed clip restores what has been cropped earlier.
Cropping Media on the Canvas
Sometimes, it is necessary to focus on specific portions of your clip while leaving the rest of the “noise” or distractions out. Camtasia allows you to turn the canvas into a workspace where you can directly hide unwanted parts of an image or video by cropping them out. To crop media:
- First, with the play head on the selected media, click the crop button at the top of the canvas to enable the crop mode.
- A blue border shows up around the media.
- Now, crop the image or video directly from the canvas by dragging the blue border handles to hide the unwanted portions.
- When you are satisfied, return to the edit mode by clicking the arrow next to the crop button.
Cutting and Deleting
You do not need to worry about mistakes or unwanted portions of a video because you can easily edit them in Camtasia. Two ways to remove parts from your video clips are cutting and deleting.
The cut option removes selected portions from your video and moves the rest of the media to fill the space on the timeline. On the other hand, the delete option removes the selected media but leaves the space empty for a new clip to be inserted.
To cut:
- Make a selection by dragging the play head
- Click the Cut icon (the pair of scissors)
To delete (replace media):
- Make a selection by dragging the play head
- Press the Delete key on the keyboard
Split Clip
Camtasia allows you to split one clip into two parts so that you can insert another clip in between. To that:
- Select the clip to split
- Move the play head to the exact position where you want the split to be inserted
- Click the split button
Alternatively, you can make your selection and then press the “Cmd” + “T” keys on Mac or the “S” key on Windows to split the clip.
Ripple Split
Sometimes you may realize that you forgot to add some important content at the beginning or in the middle of your video. For example, you have a perfectly edited video that is lacking an intro. You can select the entire media on all the tracks on the timeline and then move them all at once. This is called a ripple split. To do that:
- Press and hold down the shift key
- Drag the play head
The selected media will be moved at the same time to make room for a new clip.
Stitch
To stitch in Camtasia means to combine clips. Stitching is particularly useful when you want to move, select, or edit a collection of clips as one. Keep in mind that you can only combine or stitch clips taken from one piece of media.
To stitch clips together:
- Select clips from the same media to stitch
- Right-click the clips
- Select the “Stitch Selected Media” option
When you stitch clips together, Camtasia regards them as one. That means they share the same visual properties. Also, the same effects and animations will be applied to the media.
Adjusting Clip Speed
It is pretty easy to make your video to playback faster or slower using Camtasia. All you need to do is to apply the clip speed effect to the particular clip on the timeline. To do so:
- From the Tools panel, click and drag the speed effect to a clip on the timeline.
- Adjust the speed by dragging the clip speed handles in the effects tray.
- Alternatively, you can use the properties panel to adjust the speed of the selected clip.
Sharing Your Video
When you are satisfied with your project, you can export finished videos using the share option. To do that:
- Click the share button located at the top right corner of the Camtasia interface
- Choose your preferred sharing platform (YouTube, Vimeo, Google Drive, etc.)
Conclusion
There is no doubt that Camtasia is a professional-level video recorder and editor. The software offers a complete video editing solution for both advanced and novice users. Its user-friendly interface, coupled with its powerful features, makes it an excellent choice for anyone looking for a simple yet powerful video editor. Apart from recording first-rate videos and audios, Camtasia is good for video editing.
