CamStudio User Guide

Version 2.00

Latthida TRAYMANY M2 CDMM Paris 7 Diderot University November 2009

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Contents
About the User Guide .......................................................................... 4
Audience ...................................................................................................................4 What you will learn ..................................................................................................4 Before starting ..........................................................................................................4

Typographic Conventions ..................................................................... 5 CamStudio Overview ........................................................................... 6

What is it? .................................................................................................................6 What you can do with CamStudio ............................................................................6 Concepts ...................................................................................................................6 CamStudio version ....................................................................................................7 Donation ...................................................................................................................7

Installation .......................................................................................... 8
System requirement .................................................................................................8 CamStudio installation .............................................................................................8 Attached applications ...............................................................................................9

Getting Started .................................................................................... 10

Launching CamStudio ...............................................................................................10 Interface description ................................................................................................10

Settings ............................................................................................... 12
Activating autopan ...................................................................................................12 Setting audio options ...............................................................................................12 Setting audio recording ............................................................................................13 Setting cursor options ..............................................................................................13 Setting program options ...........................................................................................13 Setting SWF options .................................................................................................14 Setting Regions .........................................................................................................14 Setting video options ................................................................................................15 Configuring keyboard shortcuts ...............................................................................16

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Managing Screen Annotations ............................................................. 17

Creating a new shape ...............................................................................................17 Creating a new layout ...............................................................................................19 Editing the image of a shape ....................................................................................20 Editing the text of a shape ........................................................................................20 Managing shapes ......................................................................................................20 Managing layouts .....................................................................................................21

Managing Video Annotations .............................................................. 22 Creating Video Recordings ................................................................... 23

Creating an AVI/SWF video recording without screen annotations .........................23 Creating a AVI/SWF video recording with screen annotations ................................24 Converting AVI to SWF format .................................................................................25 Sharing video recordings ..........................................................................................25

Troubleshooting .................................................................................. 26
Help ..........................................................................................................................26 FAQ ...........................................................................................................................26

CAMSTUDIO USER GUIDE

ABOUT THE USER GUIDE

About the User Guide

Audience
The User Guide is the perfect reference if you are using or planning to use CamStudio.

What you will learn

It provides an overview of CamStudio and its main features. It will take you step by step through the process of using it. Follow all of these steps and you will be able to: create your own videos by recording all screen and audio activity on your computer, add windows that contain text on your video recordings,

record audio from a microphone or speakers, share your video recordings.

Before starting
To use the User Guide more easily, printing this document is a good idea. In many tasks, you need to choose menu commands or compare the result of an action from your screen as it should appear in CamStudio. Therefore, a printed version of the User Guide gives you better readability between what you learn, what you must obtain on your screen and the information given.

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TYPOGRAPHIC CONVENTIONS

Typographic Conventions
Typographic conventions are used with the following meanings: Component names, such as screen names or an application, are capitalized. Example: CamStudio

Elements of graphical user interface, such as buttons or field labels and access paths appear in bold. Example: Click Submit URLs are underlined and colored in blue. Example: http://camstudio.org CamStudio screenshots in this document can be edited to fit the page or to illustrate a point. They can contain boxes accompanied by text or numbers. Therefore, they might look different from the way they appear in the software program. Example:

Tips, Notes and Warnings appear as shown below. Notes attract your attention to give you additional information. Tips inform you about CamStudio practical uses. Warnings attract your attention on important messages about hardware requirements or CamStudios features.

CAMSTUDIO USER GUIDE

CAMSTUDIO OVERVIEW

CamStudio Overview
What is it?
CamStudio is a free streaming video software program which records the screen and audio activity of your computer for a given time. It is the ideal program for tutorial makers. The output format of the recording is AVI (Audio Video Interface) or SWF (Small Web Format) video files. AVI videos can contain both audio and video data in a file container. SWF videos are files format vector graphics for publication on the Web.

What you can do with CamStudio

Here are a few ways you can use CamStudio: demonstrate features of a new software program, create video tutorials for school or your friends, view the progress of a program that executes for a long time, record a movie stream or a problem with your computer to show it to a technical support.

Concepts
Audio recording Audio is optional. Therefore, you can both create: videos without any audio, videos with sound that comes from speakers or a microphone. See also Setting audio recording, page 13. Regions Regions define the video recording area of your video. The 3 possible Regions in CamStudio enable you to create a video from:

an arbitrary rectangular Region of the screen, a rectangular Region with predefined dimensions, the entire screen.

See also Setting Regions, page 14.

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Screen annotations Screen annotations are notes displayed on the screen during the video recording. It is possible to define their location and the order with which they appear. They are defined by 2 elements: the shapes, which are windows that contain text, the layouts, which are an arrangement of one or more shapes.

A shape

A layout

A video recording displays as many layouts as different levels of information. Using them avoids possible audio misunderstandings. For example, it can help you to inform about the different tasks to execute on the screen. A shape is visible during the video recording only if it is included in a layout. See also Managing Screen Annotations, page 17.

CamStudio version
To know the CamStudio version you use, select Help > About to open the About CamStudio window. The CamStudio version is visible under the OK button.

Donation
Donation is important to keep CamStudio alive and improve its features and maintenance. It is mostly used for web hosting cost: development tools, hardware and support time. To donate with your credit card, please go to http://snipurl.com/csdonate.

CAMSTUDIO USER GUIDE

INSTALLATION

Installation
System requirement
Your system must meet the following requirements: Microsoft Windows 95, 98, Me, NT 4.0, 2000, XP, 400 MHz processor, 64 MB recommended, 4 MB of harddisk space for program installation.

CamStudio installation
Before installing CamStudio, you need to download the executable file CamStudio.exe from the following website at http://camstudio.org. Once it is done, you can follow the procedure below. To install CamStudio: 1. Doubleclick CamStudio.exe. An Open File Security Warning popup appears. 2. Click Execute to launch the installation process. 3. Tick the I agree with the above terms and conditions checkbox.

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INSTALLATION

4. Click Next. 5. Click Browse to select the directory where to install CamStudio. 6. Click Start. The CamStudio popup appears. The progress bar indicates the evolution of the installation.

7. When the progress bar reaches 100 %, click OK. CamStudio is installed. A CamStudio icon has been created in your Desktop.

Attached applications
The content of the installed directory contains mainly 4 executable files.

Here is a brief presentation of each of these applications features. Executable file Play.exe PlayPlus.exe Producer.exe Recorder.exe Action Plays AVI videos files. Plays AVI videos files with more commands than Play.exe. Converts AVI video files to SWF video files. Records all screen and audio activity on your computer. It is the one that represents CamStudio, so the one that will be mainly used.

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GETTING STARTED

Getting Started
Launching CamStudio
From your Desktop, doubleclick the CamStudio icon to launch Recorder.exe. When CamStudio is minimized, it is included to the system tray. To restore it, doubleclick its icon.

Interface description
CamStudio interface is composed of different elements.

1 2 4

Number 1 2 3 4 5

Description Toolbar. Buttons area. Information area. Video format indicator. Display area. By default, it displays the state Ready. If not, it is the name or feature of a button when you rollover it with the mouse.

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GETTING STARTED

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The following table presents each button of the Buttons area. Icon Button name Record Action Starts a video recording.

Pause

Makes a pause during a video recording.

Stop

Stops a video recording.

Toggle View

Modifies the appearance of CamStudio interface to 3 different states: Normal View, Compact View or Buttons View. Displays the Screen Annotations window that enables you to create and manage shapes and layouts. See also Managing Screen Annotations, page 17.

Screen Annotations

Record Flash / AVI

Sets the video file format before recording.

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SETTINGS

Settings
Activated settings are marked by the following icon in menu commands. To deactivate a setting, click on it again and the icon will disappear.

Activating autopan
This option permits the recording to be done by following the cursor wherever it goes on the screen, so that it is centered in the video recording area. To activate autopan, select Options > Enable Autopan. Autopan is less visible when the video is a full screen recording. To control the maximum speed at which the capture area follows the mouse, select Options > Autopan Speed .The value is measured in screen pixels.

Setting audio options

You need a soundcard with an attached microphone/speakers to use this option. The following table presents the different audio options. To Set your audio options for your microphone Do this Select Options > Program Options > Audio Options > Audio Options for Microphone. You use it to set the recording format and compressed format of your audio. Select Options > Program Options > Audio Options > Audio Options for Speakers. You use it to adjust the volume of your speakers and the volume of your recording line. Select Options > Program Options > Audio Options > Audio and Video Synchronization.

Set your audio options for your speakers

Synchronize the audio and the video track

The Audio and Video Synchronization option only works when the audio goes before the video. For more information, go to http://www.camstudio.org/options/audio.

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Setting audio recording

The following table presents how to define if your video contains audio or not. To record a video Without any audio With audio coming from a microphone With audio coming from speakers Do this Select Options > Do not record audio. Select Options > Record audio from microphone. Select Options > Record audio from speakers.

Setting cursor options

Cursor options enable you to draw attention to the area where the actions take place by customizing the cursor. For example, you can:

hide/use your actual cursor during the video recording, replace the cursor with a customized cursor, replace the cursor with a cursor that is loaded from a file, ave a highlight area around the cursor.

To open the Cursor Options window, select Options > Cursor Options. For more information, go to http://www.camstudio.org/options/cursor.

Setting program options

Program options are available by selecting Options > Program Options. These options enable you to set practical options about using CamStudio in general or during a video recording, and managing AVI video files. For example, you can: minimize CamStudio when a video starts recording, hide the flashing rectangle that delineates the video recording area, automatically save settings on exit, name your AVI videos by using the systems date and time of the video recording, define the action to execute at the end of an AVI recording,

set the directory to use for the temporary files that CamStudio creates while it is recording. The temporary files can crash your system if it has not enough disk space. For more information, go to http://www.camstudio.org/options/program.

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SETTINGS

Setting SWF options

SWF options are available by selecting Options > Record to Flash Options. These options enable you to define the action to execute at the end of a SWF recording. For more information, go to http://www.camstudio.org/options/SWF.

Setting Regions
You must set the Region before recording. There are 3 possible Regions. You can choose: Region, which is an arbitrary rectangular Region of the screen, Fixed Screen, which is a rectangular Region with predefined, Full Screen, which is the entire screen.

Region To define this Region, select Region > Region. Before the video recording starts, use the pen on crosshairs cursor to define the rectangular region on your screen by clickingdragging the left mouse button. A box informs you about its dimensions.

Fixed Region To open the Fixed Region window, select Region > Fixed Region.
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Therefore, there are 2 ways to define the dimensions of the Region: Click Select to define the Region by clickdragging the left mouse button. Fill in the Width and Height fields to directly enter the dimensions of the Region.

If the Fixed TopLeftCorner checkbox is selected, the video recording area position is specified by the Left, Top, Width and Height field values. If it is not selected, you can choose the location of the fixedsize Region for the video recording. If the Drag Corners to Pan checkbox is selected, it means you can drag one of the 4 corners of the video recording area with the mouse during recording to change the Region location. The cursor changes to a fourpointed arrow when it is over one of the corner. Full Screen Select Region > Full Screen. The entire screen will be recorded.

Setting video options

Video options enable you to optimize the quality of video recordings. Indeed, high videos quality means larger files size. To open the Video Options window, select Options > Video Options. For more information, go to http://www.camstudio.org/options/video.
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SETTINGS

Configuring keyboard shortcuts

It is useful to associate keyboard shortcuts to the recording commands in order to avoid CamStudio interface to appear on the screen during a video recording. To open the Keyboard Shortcuts window, select Options > Keyboard Shortcuts.

The image above is a proposal of configuring keyboard shortcuts. You can modify it according to what seems easier to you. As long as CamStudio is open or minimized, your keyboard shortcuts are still on. Therefore, it is advisable to choose your keyboard shortcuts among those you do not often use.

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MANAGING SCREEN ANNOTATIONS

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Managing Screen Annotations

Creating a new shape
A shape is a floating window that contains text. This helps to explain what happens on the screen as the video recording goes along. You can either create: a new shape, a new shape from a predefined shape. Predefined shapes are a gain of time because they need fewer changes. To create a new shape: 1. From the Buttons area, click . The Screen Annotations window appears. The Shapes tab contains the list of the predefined shapes set by default.

2. Rightclick either a predefined shape in the list to display the context menu. 3. Select New Shape. The New Shape window appears. 4. In the Name area, attribute a name to your shape.

5. Do one of the following. To Create a new shape Create a new shape from a predefined shape Do this In the Image area, select the Blank Image radio button. In the Image area, select the Image File radio button.

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MANAGING SCREEN ANNOTATIONS

6. In the Text area, modify the text of the shape.

7. Click OK. The new shape is created. It appears both at the end of the Shapes tab and on top of all other windows on your Desktop.

Appearance of the created shape

A shape is visible during the video recording only if it is included in a layout.

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Creating a new layout

Before creating a layout, it is advisable to close all visible shapes on your Desktop. A layout is an arrangement of one or more shapes. When they are many of them, you can define the order with which they appear on the screen. To create a new layout: 1. From the list of the Shapes tab, doubleclick the shape to add to the layout. The shape appears. 2. Drap and drop the shape where you want it to appear on the screen. 3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 as many times as you need. To remove a shape from the layout before saving, rightclick the shape to display the context menu, and then select Close. 4. Once all the shapes are open, rightclick on either shape to select Save Layout.

The layout is created. It appears in the Layout tab.

As a layout is composed of shapes, modifying it consists in modifying its shapes.

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MANAGING SCREEN ANNOTATIONS

Editing the image of a shape

You can edit the image of a shape in order to customize it. For example, you can: apply a background image/background color to your shape, obtain a non rectangular window by transparency or from a predefined shape. To open the Edit Image window, rightclick the shape you want to modify in order to display the context menu, and then select Edit Image. For more information, go to http://camstudio.org/shapes/sannotations/image.

Editing the text of a shape

You can edit the text of a shape in order to highlight it. For example, you can: modify the font name, font style, fontsize, font color or alignment of the text, modify the position of the text in the shape. To open the Edit Text window, rightclick the shape you want to modify in order to display the context menu, and then select Edit Text. For more information, go to http://camstudio.org/shapes/sannotations/text.

Managing shapes
The best way to manage your shapes is to save them in a library. More than a gain of time, it enables you to load and reuse them later. The following instructions use the context menu of the Shapes tab. To make it appear, rightclick anywhere in the tab content. To Create a new shape library Load a shape library Do this Select Shape Library > New Shape Library. Select Shape Library > Open Shape Library. Select the shape library to load. Click Open. Select Shape Library > Save Shape Library. Attribute a name to the shape library. Click Open.

Save all your shapes into a file (.shape)

You can restore the default shapes by opening the file default.shapes in the installed directory of CamStudio.

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For more information, go to http://camstudio.org/shapes/sannotations/shapes.

Managing layouts
You can manage your layouts as the same way than your shapes by saving them in a library. The following instructions use the context menu of the Layout tab. To make it appear, right click anywhere in the tab content. To Create a new layout library Load a layout library Do this Select Layout Library > New Layout Library. Select Layout Library > Open Layout Library. Select the layout library to load. Click Open. Select Layout Library > Save Layout Library. Attribute a name to the layout library. Click Open.

Save all your layouts into a file (.layout)

For more information, go to http://camstudio.org/shapes/sannotations/layouts.

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MANAGING VIDEO ANNOTATIONS

Managing Video Annotations

You need a webcam installed on your system to use this feature.

It is also possible to record the content of a webcam along with other screen content when the webcam is inside your video recording area. These videos recordings are called video annotations. To create a video annotation, select Tools > Video Annotations. The Video Annotations window will appear. Just like screen annotations, video annotations are customizable. For example, you can add a text caption or make a cutout Region. To adjust these settings, rightclick the webcam window to display a context menu as the image below.

For more information, go to http://camstudio.org/shapes/vannotations.

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CREATING VIDEO RECORDINGS

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Creating Video Recordings

Creating an AVI/SWF video recording without screen annotations
As the following procedure shows, screen annotations are optional. To create an AVI/SWF video recording without screen annotations: 1. Click . The Video format indicator displays if the video recording is AVI or SWF.

Video format

2. Define the audio recording (See also Setting audio recording, page 13). 3. Define the Region See also Setting Regions, page 14). 4. Click to start the recording. Do this Before the video recording starts, clickdrag the left mouse button to define the video recording area. Before the video recording starts, drag and drop the rectangle where you want the video recording area to be. Go to step 5.

If the select Region is Region

Fixed Region

Full Screen

The video recording starts. The information about the video recording appears in the Information area.

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CREATING VIDEO RECORDINGS

5. Click to stop the video recording. A Save AVI File/Save SWF File popup appears. 6. Select the directory where to save the video file on your computer. 7. Click Save. Your video file is saved. Program options enable you to name your AVI videos files by using the systems date and time of the video recording See also Setting program options, page 13 To avoid CamStudio interface to appear on your screen during the video recording, you can configure keyboard shortcuts See also Configuring keyboard shortcuts, page 16

Creating a AVI/SWF video recording with screen annotations

You must create your screen annotations before recording. The following procedure shows you how to include screen annotations in your video recording. It uses the keyboard shorcuts of the image page 15. To create an AVI/SWF video recording with screen annotations: 1. Click to define if the video format is AVI or SWF.

2. Define the audio recording and the Region. 3. Press F1 to start the video recording. The video recording starts. 4. Press TAB to display the first layout. 5. Do one or more of the following. To Make the layout disappear Display the previous layout Display the next layout Do this Press TAB. Press F3. Press F4.

6. Press F2 to stop the video recording. 7. Save your video file after selecting the directory where to save it on your computer. Your video file is saved.

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Converting AVI to SWF format

CamStudio has the ability to convert AVI video files to SWF video files using Producer.exe. For more information, go to http://camstudio.org/applications/producer.

Sharing video recordings

The following table presents a few examples of the different ways you can share your video recordings. If You have a Website You have not a Website You can

make them accessible using a FTP software program, inset them into your Web pages for streaming. send them by email to your friends, family or colleagues, play them on your computer, share them with an USB key.

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TROUBLESHOOTING

Troubleshooting
Help
For more information about the topics covered in the User Guide, you can open CamStudio Help which is available from the Help menu in the toolbar when CamStudio is open. For complete and uptodate information, including tips, news about the latest features, go to the following websites at: http://camstudio.org http://camstudio.org/blog

http://camstudio.org

http://camstudio.org/blog

FAQ
If you do not find the answers to your questions and want more help, a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) is available at http://camstudio.org/faq.htm. A forum is also available at http://camstudio.org/forum, so you can communicate and share your knowledge with other CamStudios users.

CAMSTUDIO USER GUIDE