Camtasia 3
Record, edit, and share the contents of your screen
$199 Developer TechSmith, techsmith.com Requirements OS X 10.10 or later, 2GB RAM
Camtasia enables you to record, edit, and share your Mac’s display as a movie. It’s a popular tool with educators in particular, because they can show their audience how to fix a picture in Lightroom, for example.
Version 3 has a more polished look, though because the key panels are in the same relative positions to version 2, there’s no need to re-learn the app if you’re an old hand.
But while the basic cake may not look too different, there’s a lot more icing to work with. The new Behaviors panel lets you drag and drop eye-catching animation presets onto assets such as text. The welcome Split button enables you to cut a timeline’s clip in two without having to right-click on the playhead. And all music tracks included with Camtasia are royalty free, and fine to use on YouTube and Vimeo.
You can also now make your video productions more interactive by incorporating multiple choice quizzes, and even personalize your captured movies by adding the feed from your FaceTime camera as you record.
With Camtasia 3, a Mac user can now deliver the project to a PC Camtasia user, who can then fine-tune it. This crossplatform compatibility will be welcomed by many professional Camtasia users.
The only significant issue we have with Camtasia 3 is the eye-watering price tag. That said, there is a free 30-day trial available, so you can try it out and establish whether the software is really worth the money for your particular needs.
the bottom line. Slick post-production tools to make eye-catching videos, but at equally eye-catching price.