TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Re: Camtasia, Captivate, and other commercial or freebies
Subject:Re: Camtasia, Captivate, and other commercial or freebies From:"Bob Doyle" <bobdoyle -at- skybuilders -dot- com> To:TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 5 Sep 2007 12:54:52 -0400
Hi Rob,
David Pearson of Shawmut Education and I are also comparing Camtasia Studio
4 with Captivate 3.
Our goal is a little different. We want to convert long presentations on
DITA to tutorial materials that tech writers can use to get familiar with
DITA. They will be posted to DITA Tutor
(http://www.ditatutor.org)
Your five to ten minute length fits well into Captivate. One of their screen
messages says they can record 10 to 12 minutes of full motion. And the
default time of individual segments is under a minute.
With Camtasia we have recorded presentations longer than an hour. Last
night David recorded a SecondLife meeting of DITA Users on the virtual DITA
Island.
But then the files are huge. (80MB for an hour) So we are now trying to get
the visuals track to just be a succession of Powerpoint slides. The trick is
to get the timing of each slide change at the correct point in the audio.
I wish a video editing program like Adobe Premiere could just insert a still
frame for a few minutes and not turn it into avi, repeating the same frame
many times a second.
On 9/3/07, Rob Hudson <caveatrob -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> A few months ago I inquired about the tool of choice for tech writers
> to create presentations that demonstrate software functionality. I
> received quite a few responses that were split between Captivate and
> Camtasia.
>
> I'm wondering what today's tool of choice is for producing short five
> to ten-minute tutorials on using software packages. I'm documenting a
> web-based system and am trying to decide between Captivate and
> Camtasia. The boss has a pretty strong inclination towards Captivate
> and I don't know whether to switch to that in its current version or
> stay with Techsmith's tools.
>
> Any opinions based on current versions of either? As I recall,
> Camtasia used to have trouble mixing more than two audio tracks
> without Audacity tomfoolery.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Rob
>
> --
> Rob Hudson
> PhD Student, Technical Comm. and Rhetoric
> Composition Assessment Software Developer
> Texas Tech University
> www.iteachwriting.com
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
> printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007
> Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more.
>http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList
>
> True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
> Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
> documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com
>
> ---
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as bobdoyle -at- skybuilders -dot- com -dot-
>
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> or visit
>http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/bobdoyle%40skybuilders.com
>
>
> To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
>http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.
>
>
Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007
Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more. http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList
True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
