This powerpoint was used for a webinar sponsored by the North Carolina Library Association;s Distance Learning Group. The purpose was to compare Camtasia to Captivate, and offer free alternatives, for libraries seeking to start making screencasts.

1. Camtasia vs. Captivate
vs. Free
a comparison of screencasting alternatives
Sponsored by the NCLA-CUS & NCLA-CJCS
Distance Learning Group
Presenters:
Nina Exner, NC A&T
James Missé, NC A&T
Gwen Exner, NCknows

2. Objective
Not a
how-to
session!
Let’s talk screencasting software!
versus
plus some alternatives

3. Screencasts? The 1¢ Tour
Makes videos
of stuff
happening on
your screen

4. ½ ¢ more…
SCREENCASTS
ALSO HAVE…
AUDIO
Annotations
/ Callouts
…& other cool stuff!

5. Intro over. On to the battle!

6. Made by: TechSmith
Version: 7.1
OSs: Windows, Mac
Price: $299
(Educational: $179)

7. Structured in multiple
modules.
Fairly easy for the basics,
but options can get
complex.

10. Press
F10
to stop

11. Integrates an “add in” into
Powerpoint.

16. SUMMARY
•Cheaper than Captivate, more than free
•Easy to get started using Camtasia!
•Edits as whole video; hard to break up
•Robust options (but less than Captivate)
o Adding text and callouts
o Captioning (including speech-to-text)
o Hotspots and basic interactivity
•SCORM compliant with some quizzes
•The most production/output options

18. Adobe Captivate
101
James Missé
North Carolina A&T State University

19. Adobe Captivate 5.5
The purpose of this
PowerPoint is to show
those who are not familiar
with Adobe Captivate how
it can completely change
the way we create tutorials
for eLearners.

20. Why Captivate?
• It is extremely user friendly and easy to
learn.
• Its robust features allow tutorial makers to
be creative while making their tutorials.
• Question types in Captivate can be
customized to provide the optimal tutorial
experience.
• The interactive ability of Captivate can
provide eLearners with an engaging
experience.

21. Captivate’s interface is very
user friendly

22. Seamlessly publish your tutorials
straight to YouTube
Just press the “YouTube”
button and you are good to go.

23. Every object in Captivate can be redesigned, altered
or enhanced to fit your needs
This is an example of
the properties that can
be changed within a call
out caption

24. Examples of customizable question types
that you can insert into a Captivate tutorial
These question types
can be used to
accurately assess a
learner. As you can
see, Captivate does
not limit your ability to
create assessments
and engage the
learner through
questions.

25. Interactive options in Captivate
Fully customizable widgets,
animations, animated text, videos,
skins, captions, callouts, highlights,
effects, audio and more….

26. How can you use Captivate to help
distance learners?
• You can import your existing PowerPoint
slides and convert them into an
interactive tutorials.
• You can create tutorials as a
demonstration, training session or
assessment.
• You can record videos from your screen.

27. Example of a PowerPoint presentation in a
Captivate tutorial
All you do is click “File” and click “Import” to get
your slides into Captivate

28. Various recording modes will allow you the
freedom to create tutorials based upon the
learning objectives that you choose

29. OK, I hear Camtasia and
other eLearning software do
the same things for much
cheaper…

30. Well…
Here are Some Features That Only Captivate Does.
• Virtual collaboration through Adobe’s eLearning cloud
allows collaborators to view, edit and comment on
Captivate projects
• Integrate other Adobe products
• Interactive animations for visually stimulating tutorials
• The easy to use Text-to-Speech feature

31. Collaboration Cloud
Once you share your projects through Captivate, others
can download, view and edit them in a collaborative
manner

32. Captivate can easily integrate projects
created using other Adobe software

33. Choose from tons of Flash animations or make
your own

34. Text to Speech (TTS)
This feature
makes tutorials
with voice audio
much easier to
record. All you
have to do is
type what you
want the voice
to tell the
listener.

35. In addition to the vast help
features…
“How to” information on
virtually every aspect of
Captivate can be found
online due to its huge fan
base and heavy usage

36. How much does Captivate cost?
According to Adobe’s website, as of
12/1/11
Adobe Captivate 5.5 is priced for
Students and Educators
at
$299.00 USD

37. Bottom Line….
Adobe Captivate may not be the cheapest
eLearning software out there but it’s a
Must Have in terms of collaboration. Also,
its ability to engage the learner through
interactivity is not a feature that should be
overlooked

38. Thank You

39. Great for…
- quick demos in virtual reference
- experiments/getting your feet wet
- small budgets
Not so great for…
- advanced editing needs
- recorded quizzes (SCORM)
- any sort of interactivity

40. Easy, no editing
•Web-based - Screencastle
•Mac/Windows - Jing
•Linux - XVidCap
Medium, some editing
•Windows - Uvscreencamera
Hard, but might be worth it
•Windows - ActivePresenter
•Windows/Linux - Wink

41. Pro:
•Web-based…no installation
•Hosts file, and allows you to download
•Lets you pause recording
•Doesn‟t place watermarks or branding
•Unlimited recording time
•Has plugins for Wordpress & MediaWiki
•Records whole/partial screen,
microphone, & mouse pointer
•Extremely easy to use

42. Con:
•No editing options
•Basically no support
•No way to retrieve your screencast if
you lose the link
•Only one type of output: .FLV (Flash
video)

43. http://screencastle.com/

44. If you get a security warning like this, click Run

45. Adjust the height/width of the recording area, if desired

46. Select or deselect audio recording from the microphone

47. Open the recorder

48. Start the recording

49. End the recording

50. Save the recording

51. Can be used to download the recording

52. Pro:
•Friendly, graphical interface
•Lets you pause recording
•Records whole/partial screen,
• microphone, and mouse pointer
•Easily shares with Twitter, Flickr,
• Facebook, & FTP servers.
•Keeps history of past recordings
•Fair number of tutorials & help files
http://www.techsmith.com/jing.html

53. Con:
•Loads at startup by default
•Adds branding before & after
•5-minute limit on recording time
•Editing for screenshots, but not „casts.
•Requires screencast.com registration
•Visible on screen even when docked
•Only one type of output: .SWF (Flash)
•$15/year for pro version
http://www.techsmith.com/jing.html

54. Pro:
•Able to handle high framerates
•Lets you pause recording
•Records whole/partial screen,
• microphone, and mouse pointer
•Many output format options.
http://xvidcap.sourceforge.net/

55. Con:
•No editing options
•No support other than FAQ
•Not updated since 2006
http://xvidcap.sourceforge.net/

56. Pro:
•Can add text, callouts, borders, arrows,
& buttons that control flow or go to sites
•Can edit audio and video
•Records whole/partial screen,
microphone, and mouse pointer
•Free trial is not time-
limited
http://uvsoftium.com/UVScreenCamera.php

57. Con:
•Only proprietary video output in free
version, but can make .EXE w/ player
•Interface is somewhat clunky
•Help files are not useful
•No pause option
•$50 for full version
http://uvsoftium.com/UVScreenCamera.php

58. http://uvsoftium.com/UVScreenCamera.php

59. Pro:
•Free version may (or may not) do
SCORM output
•Can import slides from PowerPoint
•Many output options
•Can add text, callouts, borders, arrows,
captions, zoom/pan, questions, & more
•Many online tutorials
http://atomisystems.com/activepresenter/

60. Con:
•Free version may not (or may) do
SCORM output
•Site is inconsistent & confusing
•PDF help file would not open
•Full version is $350-$450
http://atomisystems.com/activepresenter/

61. http://atomisystems.com/activepresenter/

62. Pro:
•Absolutely free, open source
•Very powerful, with many options
•User-created tutorials available
http://www.debugmode.com/wink/

63. Con:
•Very steep learning curve
•Manual is very technical
http://www.debugmode.com/wink/

65. Wrapping it up…
Many more available!
Some eLearning
environments can
screencast as part of a
Ex: SoftChalk
bigger suite. LessonBuilder

66. Consider your goals & needs
Free alternatives
No Installation – Screencastle
Easy and friendly – Jing
Medium-techy – UVScreencamera
Robust (&hard) – Wink; Xvidcap

67. Pick your limit(s):
No budget? Low tech
Must have tolerance? Mac?
quizzes for Activepresenter
Blackboard, Jing Camtasia
Sakai, or Camtasia
*Screencastle
Moodle? UVScreencamera Jing
Captivate
*Wink
Captivate *Xvidcap
$300 Jing
*totally free
Camtasia No techies
$179 at all?
Limited Linux?
Little budget?
Or try installations?
Activepresenter’s Jing Xvidcap
free version $15/year
(cautiously!) Screencastle Wink
UVScreencamera
$50

68. Or consider this plan:
1) Record a couple of test videos using
Jing or Screencastle
 With and without narration!
 Try the most basic thing: an
intro to your library‟s website!
2) Try “video-izing” an existing PPT
3) IF those work get trials of Camtasia
and Captivate to test which you like

69. Questions?
The DLG thanks
the North Carolina Library
Association,
CUS and CJCS.
Nina Exner James Missé Gwen Exner
NC A&T NC A&T NCknows
ninae@ncat.edu jbmisse@ncat.edu gwenexner@
gmail.com