Output for training videos

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El Producto

Active member
I do a lot of instructional design for online learning. I use Premiere Pro but I also use programs such as Camtasia and Captivate for screen recording demonstrations. How do I incorporate real video and screen recordings together?

When I export from Premiere using Flash video, Camtasia and Captivate do not accept .flv files. At the moment I'm going to try to export a flv from Premiere, bring it into Flash and export an SWF. Then try to import the SWF into one of those programs.

I guess I'm confused because I see all of these high qaulity videos where motion video and screen captures are used simultaneously, and I can't figure out how it's done.
 
Hi,

I think you want to find a common CODEC in which to edit the files.

Camtasia uses Techsmith as the CODEC which can be converted to SD DV, for example, assuming that is what your video is shot with.

You can also convert your DV to Techsmith's CODEC, but that CODEC is lossless and as such is going to be hoggy on space on your hard drive.

In either case, you will likely be somewhat disappointed in the results - silk purse, sow's ear - that sort of thing. You have a progressive VGA screen as the source of your screen capture and a interlaced video (probably) as the source of the video capture. While they aren't water and oil, they aren't peanut butter and jelly either. They aren't particularly pleasing when mixed.

Just be aware that you can get decent results, but perfect isn't something that's likely to come easily.

Good luck!
 
A SWF file contains a bytecode stack which is read and executed by a flash player whether it be the traditional browser plug-in or an air application such as the adobe media player. You can embed frames in a timeline such as a screenrecording from Camtasia and you can also include one or more flv players to playback linked flv movies. FLV files can also have cuepoints embedded to which you can make your SWF respond to. This means that you can freely mix screen recordings and video on any number of layers and have each communicate freely with each other. You also have the benefit of support for alpha channels with flv and of course every last detail of everything is completely accessable and controllable with code.

I'd recommend authoring enhanced DVDs for the best learning environment.
 
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I think you're moshing up several component steps into one basket, and all that will do is make you more confused. Start with the capture. If you're working in SD with a DV camcorder, work in an SD DV timeline in your NLE. Several years ago I did just that using standard DV video and Camtasia video. I edited them in Premier 6.0 and output them to both QT and WMV files without issues. One key here is that the final output was deinterlaced for use on Web sites. Outputting to an interlaced DVD might cause other problems. You might be able to get around that by producing progressive DVDs, if DVDs are your output medium. If you want to preserve the higher definition of typical computer monitors, you might want to edit in an HD timeline. Or, make your computer screen res 640x480 and it will live fairly happily in a DV timeline.

Flash, for the most part, is a technological Everest that I have chosen not to climb. That said, I have worked with Flash video for my own Web site and it works very well. I transcoded standard DV timelines from Premier Pro using the Media Encoder and it worked just fine. Keep in mind that many, me included, consider Flash video as a delivery codec, not an intermediate codec. You'll be much happier if you use something other than Flash as your intermediate codec.
This was my experience and it worked for me. Hope it helps.
 
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