Category: HOW TO VIDEO TUTORIALS

Free step by step how to video tutorials

  • Ways To Edit Audio Inside Video Editor That You Must Know

    When editing video on your preferred video editing software timeline, there are certain audio effects you will want to add and make the video sound good and professional.

    In order to add the effects you want, you will need to know how to control the audio while editing the video on the timeline. In this blogpost, I will share with you ways to control audio while editing your videos.

    Adding Audio Points

    This is like the main skill you need to learn. Once you are able to master it well, you will be able to control the volume level of the background music on your videos. Audio points are small keyframes that you add to your audio in order to control the volume in different sections of the video as it plays.

    The same can also be applied to video.

    To add audio points on Camtasia studio, right click on the audio you want to add audio points to. From the menu that pops up, select add audio point. Repeat this process to add another audio point.

    Control Audio on videos
    Control Audio on Your videos

    Controlling The Audio Points

    When you add audio points to your audio, the audio points will appear like in the screenshot below.

    Audio control points
    Audio control points

    Use the control points to raise and lower volume of the audio selected. To do this, click, hold and drag the audio point(one at a time) down to lower the audio volume and up to raise the volume. You can add the control points at any section/part of the audio on the timeline.

    Use The Control Points To Fade In

    At the beginning of your audio, you can use the audio points to fade in. To do this, add two control points to your audio. Let the audio points be 3 seconds apart with the first control point appearing at the beginning of your audio.

    Fade in using audio points
    Fade in using audio points

    Drag the first control point down as shown in the image above. Play to listen and adjust accordingly as per the video you are editing.

    Fade In Audio In the Middle of the Video

    Lets say you in the middle of editing a video in the timeline, and there is a title that appears for 3 seconds. In the same video that you are editing, you have a background music playing in low volume. You want the music volume to rise at the section where the title is and fall again once the title disappears.

    How will you achieve this audio effect?

    You can achieve this using audio control points. To do this, add four audio points to your background music. Adjust the first 2 points to be 3 seconds apart and next to where the title begins. Have the other 2 control points at the end. (Ref. to the screenshot below).

    Start by dragging the third control point up first to raise the volume to the percentage you want. Drag second control point up as well to the same level as the third one.

    At the end, your audio points will look like the screenshot below but on the up side as you are raising the volume.

    Fade audio in the middle of the video
    Fade audio in the middle of the video

    Once you have mastered audio control using the audio points, other edits related to audio will be easy.

    Adding Sound effects To Video

    The process of adding sound effects to a video is same as the one of adding a background music. The difference is the positioning of the sound effect in question.

    Drag and drop the sound effect to the position you want it to appear on your video on the timeline. Replay the video and adjust it’s position to ensure that it’s in sync with the visual effect.

    Sound-effects-alongside-the-video-graphics
    Sound-effects-alongside-the-video-graphics

    Trimming Audio Separately On A Video

    Sometimes, you will want to trim audio separately on a video. In order to do this, you will have to first separate the video and audio. Next, right click and select separate audio and video. From here you will be able to edit audio and video separately.

    Trim Audio on a Video separately
    Trim Audio on a Video separately

    Exporting Audio Only

    The process of exporting audio only from a video timeline varies with video editing software’s. To do so on Camtasia Studio, click on export on the top menu and select export audio only. Select your preferred audio file type and click save.

    Export Audio Only on video
    Export Audio Only on video

    Conclusion

    There is more to video editing than just trimming the video as desired. These include editing the audio, designing and adding motion graphics, adding subtitles e.t.c.

    Knowing how control your audio on the timeline manually is very good. With more practice, you will be able to do them accurately and faster.

    If you are a professional freelance video editor, I urge you to factor in audio editing in your quote when asked to send a proposal.

    And that is.

    Is there any other way to control audio in your videos? Share your feedback in the comments section below.

    And if you need help to produce professional screencast videos, you can request a quote on www.techtubestudio.com.

    Until next time, bye bye and take care.

    Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.

  • Why Being Jack of a Trades Will Fail You In Freelancing

    Mindset is the key to success in freelancing. While we all learn from failures, there is a particular savage mindset that bars many freelancers who are talented in many fields from exploiting their full potential.

    When one is gifted with many skills, greed creeps in. Many new and established freelancers are gifted hence they think that by offering services for every skill they possess, they will make more money and hence become stinking rich. I mean who doesn’t want to be rich anyway?. It is a fact we all do.

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    Motivational gurus will tell you this ‘Challenge yourself and learn new skill every month.” This quote can only apply if you are not contented with your current skills and is looking for something you are passionate about. Otherwise, for what purpose should you learn the new skills anyway?”.

    In this blogpost, I will share with you how to unbecome Jack of trades.

    How Jack of All Trades Quote Apply in Freelancing

    I will use my skillset as an example to break this down for you. I am a Freelance Video Producer. This therefore means I fall in the video production category. On a freelance platform like Upwork, video production is broken down into many other subcategories as shown in the screenshot below. This is a good place start and experiment on various related skills.

    Jack of all Trades

    You can be a jack of all trades when starting up. I suggest you don’t do it for a long time. Narrow down to something that you find exciting to do This is the most important stage. The problem most of the time is freelancers inability to settle on one skill after many years. This thus takes me to the next point.

    The Greed That Comes Attached to Being a Jack of All Trades

    girl capital luck business
    Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.com

    I know of a guy in my village who offers basically every service. If someone needs veterinary service for their livestock – he is there, if you laptop crashes – he will fix it, if your toilet tap leak- he is the guy to call, if you need a surveyor to measure your land- he is the go to expert. I mean he does almost everything well. Such people are talented.

    Their potential for success is very high. But the reality on the ground is, they are not that much successful at all. They live reckless life’s. They tend to be careless spenders and poor at saving their earnings.

    This behavior is as a result of being greedy. When you are greedy to do every job, you will not have time to plan and invest your income. It’s common to think that you are achieving more by doing many things but in the real sense, you are loosing it. That is why I recommend narrowing down your ‘trades‘ to one skill that you love and it guarantees you constant income.

    In Short, Don’t Be A ‘Jack of All Trades’

    I applaud freelancers who are talented in many skills. Fact is, you cannot exhaust all the skills in this world. You will get tired, old and confused if are obsessed with learning everything without settling down on one thing.

    Be the ‘Jack‘ when you are starting up and grow into a master of one. Mastery is where freedom lies.

    Its Expensive to Master Everything

    stack of american paper money on black background
    Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

    Most freelancing jobs require that you use a certain software to do the job. If you have to offer lets say 6 skills that uses 6 different software’s, you will then need to pay for each software annually. On average, software cost about $200 a year. This means you will spend about $1200 a year on software’s alone. Then, more time perfecting your skills to use the software’s.

    And don’t tell me about using cracked software’s because its professionally unacceptable.

    One downside of this is that you may find yourself using one of the software 2 to 3 times a year for jobs with value of less than $200. This makes it a poor investment.

    Conclusion

    Being a Jack of All Trades at the beginning of your freelancing career and a Master of one at the end is good. Once you have found a skill that you are passionate about, become a master and stick to it. There will be high and low tides on your way up. The power lies in your persistence.

    And that is it from me here. What freelancing skills have you mastered? I would like to know about it in the comments section below.

    And if you need help with screencast videos, request a free quote here.

    Until next time time, bye bye and take care.

    Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.

  • 5 Features I Love On Camtasia 2021

    In the past few months, I have found 5 new features I love on Camtasia 2021 software which I would like to share it with you today. This is based on my experience recording and editing screencast videos and my vlogs. At the end of this blog post, I will share my favorite feature that is available in all versions of Camtasia studio that I discovered 5 years ago.

    Get Started Screen

    The new get started screen is noticeable. It looks modern and sleek. The webinars, video tutorials and academy has been put together under one menu item called learning.
    Also, help link was not there in the earlier versions. While this is a good thing, I feel people will rarely use this link unless Camtasia program crashes😒 which rarely happens.

    Camtasia 2021 Get Started Screen

    Overall, I love the get started screen. It always reminds me that I am using the latest version of the software😁.

    Camtasia Recorder

    There are two things I love about the Camtasia 2021 recorder. The first one is the new interface. It looks different. All the important controls are now modified and larger than before. By sliding on the respective buttons on each feature, I can choose what to record and what not to. For instance, by sliding the system audio button to the right, I chose to record system audio. Sliding it to the left, I turn it off.

    Camtasia 2021 Screen Recorder

    The second thing I love about Camtasia 2021 recorder is not having to minimize the recorder while recording. This is unless its blocking the buttons I am suppose to click when recording the screens. Otherwise, by default, the recorder will not appear on your screen recordings like it used to in the previous versions. So you don’t have to worry about it. Its worth pointing out that you can enable and disable in under options menu.

    Software Stability When Editing

    With the latest windows update on August, I now experience more stability when editing video footage and screen recordings with motion graphics and video transitions combined. The software used to buffer a lot when loading motion graphics and previewing transitions.

    The second occasion was when editing mobile screen recordings. In the past, I had to export mobile screencast videos and re-imported them to the timeline in order to better match with the voice overs due to lagging.

    The new Camtasia 2021 looks like it has solved this. The loading now is seamless. But I don’t know how others editors find it. It will be interesting to know. Share your experience in the comments sections below.

    New Transitions

    This cannot go without saying. More than 100 transitions are now available for you to explore and use in Camtasia Studio 2021. I have found a couple of them I love and repeatedly use them across my vlogs.

    Camtasia 2021 Screen Recorder

    It was designed to fit to all occasions depending on the video that you are working on. That’s why it’s worth trying Camtasia 2021 today.

    New Feature I Find Not Useful

    At this point I still find emphasize audio feature not any useful to me at all. This makes it my less favorite feature among the new features. I prefer to adjust audio points manually than use this feature. This is because I barely notice it’s impact when I apply it to my audios while editing videos on my timeline.

    Camtasia 2021 Audio Effect

    I have watched videos of people applying it and I am still not convincedđŸ€.

    Do you find the Emphasize audio feature useful in your day to day edits? Let me know in the comments section below.

    Custom Library

    Finally my unto my favorite feature, custom library. This was there in the previous versions and with each update, it gets even better. It gives a sense of ownership.

    Custom Library in Camtasia 2021

    Each time I edit a video, I add one new template so that I don’t have to recreate motion graphic screens and transitions each time I produce a video. To do this, I group animated designs on my timeline and save it in the library under a name that I chose and a specific folder based on the project I am working on.

    Next time I want the template, I will only drag it and drop it on top of the video I am editing.

    This saves me a lot of time. You can modify a template as you go to suite your new requirements at hand and save it under a different name.

    Remember you can download the latest version of Camtasia 2021 using the link here. Its free to try.

    If you are a vlogger and is looking for a video editing software that is easiest to learn; then I recommend Camtasia 2021. It’s easy to learn using it.

    The interface is clean and most settings are straight forward when it comes to customization.

    Finally, if you need help to create and produce professional screencast video tutorials for your software, website or app, you can request a free quote here.

    Was this article helpful to you? Let me know in the comments below.

    Until next time, bye bye and take care.

    Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.

  • 3 Useful Productivity Tools You Should Try That Comes Installed On Android Phone

    Many freelancers and online entrepreneurs struggle to settle on a specific mobile application for their productivity. They find themselves rushing for the latest mobile app in the market and ditching what they are familiar with.

    Watch video

    Problem is, this behavior is addictive and not helpful in anyway. In todays blogpost, I will be showing you 3 useful productivity free tools that comes installed on your android phone that you can utilize as freelancer.

    These tools are specifically useful to freelancers and anyone working online. Am certain that the same tools are available on apple phones as well.

    Everyday, an app with similar features to what you already have installed on your phone comes into the market. To remain productive in your freelancing and business career, you need to always ask yourself why you are installing a new app.

    Do you really need them?

    Can what you already have serve the purpose?

    It makes no sense to install an app similar to what you already have on your phone.

    Here are 3 free tools with features that you need to be productive as an online entrepreneur.

    Calculator

    What? You never expected this, right! But hang on first.

    Calculator is classified as a tool on android phones. In android 10 color OS, the calculator tool has new features. The first feature which is useful to freelancers working with global clients is the Exchange Rate feature. It has all currencies and its up to date. You just need to have your internet connection on to pull the latest exchange rate.

    This feature comes in handy when quoting for a service. You can quickly check the exchange rate of your client currency verses yours. e.g United States Dollars to Kenya Shillings.

    On top of the exchange rate feature, you may also need to use the unit converter. For instance, in my country, human weight is measured in Kilograms. In other countries like US, the same is measured in pounds. This feature is helpful for people in the fitness business. There are other units like length, Area, Volume, temperature, speed, power and pressure.

    Clock

    This is the second tool that is quite useful to freelancers. Freelancers and clients online work and live in different Time zones. For instance, I have clients in UK and Australia. Its therefore good to know the best time to communicate with your clients. When you open clock, you can see your time and location.

    Here you can add new time for other locations that you are interested in. To do this, click on the +button, Type in the location name on search bar and select the Time zone. The new time zone will be added to your list. This is always useful as it helps you make the right decisions. Sometimes, it not worth taking jobs from clients in some time zones.

    Screen Recording

    Finally, we have the screen recorder. This is very useful to me and anyone who offers their services as a video producer. I help clients produce professional screencast videos. Occasionally, I take orders to produce demo videos for mobile apps.

    Screen recording tool comes in handy. I can record unlimited screen videos in HD without downloading any app from Play store. Its important to note that you can record your voice alongside the screens when working a demo video for an app.

    This tool is also useful to freelancers who do Mobile app reviews. They can quickly record screens and share. To access this app, just pull down the top menu on your phone, then choose screen recorder.

    The tool will open up with floating controls on your screen. Click on it to start and stop recording. Use the cog setting feature to enable and disable sound recording. Also, you can see more features by tapping on more.

    Click the x button to close.

    Conclusion

    Before I go, Its is important to note that there are other useful tools like Compass (for Chinese Feng Shui in your house) and Digital well being that records data of everything you do on your phone. If you find yourself not very productive, I suggest that you regularly check on the digital well being app to see which apps are robbing you most of your productive time.

    The aim here is to be minimal and productive. This way, you can achieve more.

    And that’s it from me here.

    If you need help to produce professional screencast videos, you can always request a quote for free here.

    For any other concern or feedback, send me an e-mail to connect@cheptiony.com

    Until next time, bye bye and take care. Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.

  • Two Ways To Upload A New WordPress Theme

    There are two sure ways to upload a theme to WordPress for use on your blog or website. In this weeks Freelancing tip, I will show you two ways to upload a WordPress theme to your webhosting control panel in order customize it to suite your needs.

    Two Ways to Upload a WordPress Theme

    Its always important to know different ways to upload a WordPress theme incase one of them fails to work. This way, you will be able to pinpoint and troubleshoot any errors. e.g missing stylesheet.

    Looking for Professional Screencast Video Production Services? Click here to request a Free Quote Today!

    Upload Theme Directly from Your WordPress Dashboard

    This is a very common way that you might be well versed with. On your WordPress dashboard, hover your mouse to Appearance and select Themes.

    Select Appearance>Themes

    Select Add New>Upload Theme>Choose File. Choose the zipped theme file on your computer to start uploading.

    Select Add New>Upload Theme>Choose File.
    Scared of Starting to Freelance because of you heard people get Scammed? Here are typical Cases of Scams in The Freelancing World

    Via Your Hosting Control Panel Panel

    Sometimes uploading a theme via the WordPress dashboard fails to work. I have experienced this a couple times when trying to upload a theme purchased from theme forest. If you encounter the same issue like I did, then try uploading the theme via the webhost cPanel.

    To do this, login to your hosting account. On your hosting account cPanel dashboard, select File Manager.

    Select File manager from your hosting cPanel Dashboard.

    On the new window. Select the domain you want to upload the theme on your left. Your domain folder will expand. Select public_html>wp-content>themes.

    Select domain>wp-content>themes

    Using the icons on top (which varies depending on your hosting provider), click upload files. Select the theme you want to install and click upload.

    Click Upload.

    When done uploading, select the uploaded folder and click extract the files.

    Go back to your WordPress themes page and you will see the new theme display. From there you can start customizing it to suite your needs.

    And that is it from me today on Freelance tips. If you have any questions regarding to this video, let me know in the comments section below. Alternatively, you can send me an e-mail to connect@cheptiony.com

    Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.

    Until next time, bye bye and take care.

    Looking for Professional Screencast Video Production Services? Click here to request a Free Quote Today!

  • 5 Ways to Troubleshoot Problems of Video Quality Issues in Your Camtasia Screen Recordings

    There is nothing frustrating in video Screen-casting like a client telling you that the quality of the videos you sent to him/her are horrible. Considering the time you have spent recording, editing and finally delivering the video; being told this is heartbreaking.

    With this said, the client is always right. So, you have to find a solution or else, the client may decide not to pay you at all.

    Now, before you starting thinking about re-recording the videos, here are the best approaches to solving this problem.

    Ask The Client How He/She is Playing The Videos

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    Video player

    Many a times, the problem may be emanating from the client. Some video players do not play some formats. Also, if the video is rendered in 2K or 4K quality; and he/she tries to play the video on a small laptop of 18 inch screen using windows media player or any other player, it will lag and look as if it has some scratches on it. This is because of high video resolution. If you are sure the quality of the video is good and can play fine on your system, advise the client about it. Tell them that 2K and 4K videos only play smoothly on 24 inch and 27 inch screens consecutively. This way they can try other ways. The best solution for this case will be uploading the video to Youtube and choosing 1080p settings on youtube video player.

    Ask Them To Download The Video To Their Desktop And Play

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    Ask them to download the video and watch them on their system

    Am sure most freelancers and clients collaborate and share files via FTP. The most popular here being google drive and dropbox. If you use one of these FTP\’s to share video files, you will agree with me that playing videos directly online is sometimes a big problem. With this said, while sharing high quality videos, it\’s important to notify the client that the quality of the videos might be compromised when played directly from the FTP thus they should download them for the best viewing results.

    If at this point you find that the problem is indeed originating from you, the the following steps will help you find a solution.

    Choose Full Screen When Recording Screens

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    Choose full screen for \’recording area\’ in Camtasia

    There are two things that will determine the final output quality of your video. First is the screen resolution you choose from the Camtasia screen recorder. The best option is recording Full screen. You can cut out sections of the screen you don\’t want while editing.

    Second, is the zoom percentage of your browser. This is if you are recording a tutorial that requires the use internet browser. if you are recording it on 24 inch screen, set the zoom on your chrome browser to 125% and 150% for 27 inch screen. This will make text on your screen recordings easy to read. Also, the quality of your screen recordings will be good.

    Choose Editing Canvas Dimensions To At-least 1920×1080 Pixels

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    Camtasia editing dimensions

    Most clients are happy with these dimensions. This is good for editing all the recordings as your can stretch video to fit the screen. Also with this setting, you can render videos in lower HD resolution like 720p.

    NOTE: If you edit a video recorded in a 4K screen resolution with 1920×1080 canvas dimension, the final video output will be clear and crisp.

    Video Production Settings

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    Camtasia production settings

    Lastly, the video quality problem may be arising from your final production settings. It\’s important to create a custom present for this in Camtasia. Here, there are two key things to look into; first is the key-frame rate and secondly is the encoding mode. The lower the key-frame rate the higher the quality of your videos. I usually set my key-frame rate to between 5 to 10 depending on the video duration. Lower keyframes results in a large video file. It\’s also good to set encoding mode percentage to at least 75%.

    Bonus tip!

    If you are recording videos of you scrolling down a page, you computer RAM will determine how smooth the scroll will be. Low RAM will record choppy screens while high RAM will record smooth scrolls. Also, it is important to install more RAM when recording Game Plays. 16 GB of RAM or more is recommended.

    And that is it from me today.

    If you need help to create and produce professional screen-cast videos or any type of ex-plainer video, request a free quote here.

    Till next time, bye bye and take care.

    You can follow me on twitter @cheptiony

  • Tips to Writing a Winning Script for Demo Videos and How to Video Tutorials

    Whoever said writing is an art forgot to mention that it’s one of the most of powerful ART of selling. Now lets focus on that part ‘selling‘.  When it comes to video production, it’s the same, your interpret the script into video.

    Now, before any idea is presented in form of a video, One has to put his/her concept in words. So, how do you write a simple yet easy to understand video demo/tutorial script that deeply connects with your customer/user?

    Look at the Product/Software/App from the Targeted Customers Eye

    Most software demos/tutorials serve two purposes; to either show the customer how to perform a task within a software or app or give them reasons why they should buy your software or app. Either way, the customer is in control. The best way to look at this is to base your script on the problem that the customer is having and tell them how your product solves it. You can use rhetoric questions to capture your customer attention. Tell them first why the problem costs them a lot of time or money. Then now show them step by step the software’s saves them a great deal.

    Introduce What You Are Going to do And End With a Thank You Note 

    Before you start your video tutorial, tell your viewers what you are going to show them. For instance, You can say …….in this video tutorial, I am going to show you how to download sales reports from your user dashboard.\’ From the onset, the viewer is prepared to learn what you are going to show them. Once you are done with the tutorial, thank your viewer and ask them for any favor. i.e Like our youtube channel and so on.

    Go Straight Forward to The Solution if Its a Video Tutorial 

    Most video tutorials are done for people who are already using the software/application/website. Such users already know about the product and are just looking for steps to troubleshoots issues arising from using the software. Try as much as possible to go straight to the point and cut the BS. Be as brief as possible and explain the steps they need to take using  simple language that is understood by anyone irrespective of level they are in. Users will love you for this.

    Write in a Conversational Tone 

    Any person viewing a video tutorial always assume that whoever is presenting it is a expert. And at the back of their mind, they know that experts are masters of any given product/service and thus they don\’t use any script when doing video tutorials. This is many cases, is not true. someone writes the script and  someone else voices it. Now, when writing your script, imagine you were the presenter recording the voice over for the script and write it in that tone.

    Use short sentences and cut the BS 

    If you are not aware, people like short video tutorials with no B.S. They like videos that go straight to the point and shows them exactly how to do it (whatever they wanted to do) in the shortest time possible. Always be that script writer who strives to achieve that.

    That is all from me here. As always, I am always here to help with anything regarding to video tutorials. Just message on the contact us page. If you have any additional advise that you think it will be beneficial to the me and the reader, don\’t hesitate to share in the comments are below.

    Till next time, bye bye and let’s lets utilize the art of writing in selling.

    If you need professional help on video, let me know here.

    Also, follow me on twitter @cheptiony

  • Five Best Websites to Download Free No Watermark HD Videos to Incorporate to Your Video Project

    Sometimes, your screencast demo video will not send a clear message until you splice it up with either an illustration or a real life video. Getting someone to do motion graphics or cartoon illustrations can either be costly(if you are a start up) or time consuming -if you are working on tight deadline.

    Video-Five Best Websites to Download Free No Watermark HD Videos to Incorporate to Your Video Project

    This applies mostly to short promo videos of 30-90 seconds that appear on the landing pages of a website or mobile app stores. In most cases, the number of videos you may need incorporated into your demo range from 5-10.

    It\’s worth noting that most of the sites listed here make regular updates and now upload free 4K videos as well.

    Here are 5 sites that I found useful and recommend.

    www.pexels.com

    All videos are licensed under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license. This means you can edit or change the videos and use them free for personal and even for commercial projects. All without asking for permission or setting a link to the source. So that means attribution is not required.

    www.videvo.net

    This is one of my favorites when it comes to getting free motion graphics videos. Though some Video clips here carry the Creative Commons 3.0 license which must be attributed the original author, it’s has a wide range of videos.

    The videos range from animals, industry, food and drink and more. Just click on the category you want and you will be presented with several videos that you can choose from. You can also easily switch between motion graphics and Footage on the site.

    www.pixabay.com

    Pixabay is a vibrant community of creatives, sharing copyright free images and videos. All content here is released under Creative Commons zero, which makes them safe to use without asking for permission or giving credit to the artist – even for commercial purposes. Unlike other free video sites, Pixabay offers vector graphics, photos and illustrations. Just type in the video you are searching for on the search button here. Most videos on Pixabay are hosted on Vimeo.

    www.vidsplay.com

    This site only has free unique videos that you can download in HD. Vidsplay is currently adding new video footage on a weekly basis. You are granted non-exclusive rights to use and download the video material without the need to pay royalties for each use. Make sure you read the Terms page for further information regarding usage.

    www.pikwizard.com

    So next time when planning to produce a promotional demo video for your software or application, take a moment to go through these sites and find the best fit footage to splice it up. Demo videos looks more professional and appealing when footages of real people is incorporated.

    If you need help with either scripting or sifting through thousands of these videos and adding them to your videos, let me know from the contacts us page and request a free quote here.

    Otherwise, if you know of other resourceful places to get royalty free videos, let me know from the comments below.

    Until next time, bye bye and take care.

    Also, follow me on twitter @cheptionymutai

  • Top 5 Professional Screencast Softwares

    Screen-casting is an art. To be able to deliver great videos that communicates your message in a clear manner without B.S demands a lot of dedication and commitment in ideation stage. The first requirement is having the right tools for your project execution.

    Screen-casting software is the first among the list of other requirements like microphone, computer specs and script. Any newbie will find himself torn between several consumer software in the market. Having worked on more than 2000 screen video tutorials in the past 7 years, here are my top 5 recommendation.

    1. Camtasia studio

    This is one of my favorite software for recording and editing screen recorded videos. I use it across the board on windows and Mac. Unlike other screen recording software\’s, it has an easy to use screen video editor. You can add call outs, zoom in and out, blur information, crop, add music and voice over and render in any file format that you need in UHD 4k.  You can create subtitles using the software as well.

    Pros 

    • You can edit files across platform e.g you can open a file created on windows with Mac.
    • Easy to use editor
    • Has 30 day free trial
    • You can use it for commercial projects
    • Can create educational content
    • You can use it to create subtitles and render it in .SRT

    Cons 

    • Sometimes it crashes without saving your project
    • It takes long time to render long videos of 30 Minutes long and consumes large space based on the bitrate you chose

    2. Screenflow 

    Screen-flow is another professional screen casting software designed for Mac users only. It has several features and effects to make your final out put appealing to the eye. Recording quality is excellent, and thanks to a high frame-rate (which you can set), your videos look as if everything was actually happening on your screen. What\’s also surprising is that ScreenFlow is very lightweight for what is effectively a video editor, consuming relatively few CPU and RAM resources.

    Pros 

    • High quality recording
    • More advances transitions and effects on videos

    Cons 

    • Can\’t add text  to your video
    • Only works on Mac

    3. Screencast-o-matic 

    Like Camtasia studio, Screencast-o-matic is easy-to-use, free screen recorder for Windows, Mac, and Chromebook you can capture any area of your screen with the option to add narration from your microphone and video from your webcam. You can record lectures, webinars, demos, games, Skype calls, etc. and share free on Screencast-O-Matic.com, YouTube, or save directly to a video file.

    Pros 

    • Its online. You can access the recorder online
    • Affordable. Costs $1.50 a month

    Cons 

    • Recorder limited only by local hard disk space available. Uploads to Screencast-O-Matic.com are still limited to 15-min per upload unless you also have Pro Hosting.
    • Recording computer audio requires PC with Windows Vista or later

    4. Quicktime 

    Quick time is app that comes with most of the Mac computers. With Quicktime, you can record audio, video and screen. You can choose section of your computer screen to record and start recording it together with your voice. Once done, you can save your recording in .mov inside your local computer.

    Pros 

    • Free – it comes with your Mac.
    • Records clean and sharp video and is good for starters

    Cons 

    • You need to find another video editing software to edit your recording
    • It does not record clicks and keystrokes

    5. OBS Studio 

    OBS studio is a free and open source software for video recording and live streaming.It\’s simple program, with simple interface and big flexibility. It\’s perfect program to capture webcam and screen simultaneously and even more.

    Pros 

    • It\’s free
    • High performance real time video/audio capturing and mixing.
    • Create scenes made up of multiple sources including window captures, images, text, browser windows, webcams, capture cards and more.

    Cons 

    • Do not have a video editor
    • No any effects or text adding features

    And these are  my top 5 screen casting softwares that  I  have used and outputs great quality videos. If you are starting up, you can try these free softwares and work with them alongside other video editing softwares if you have them installed in your computer  like Adobe premiere or Adobe After Effects.

    If you need professional help with screencast videos, you can request a free quote on www.techtubestudio.com

    Don\’t forget to give this post a thumbs up and leave a comment below.

    Also, follow me on twitter @cheptiony

    Till next time, bye bye and take care.

  • 4 things Every Client Should Know Before Hiring a Screencast Video Tutorial Producer or Editor

    Every client would love to work with an expert  in wherever field they need help. The catch is; it comes with a price, and not everyone  willing to pay it. The same case applies to finding a professional screen-cast video editor or producer. If you are scouting for one, please read the following article to the end before you decide on who to go with.

    Here are 3 main things a professional screen-cast video producer should request from you(client) before  starting.

    Note: Most these items can be provided by the editor or producer based on  agreement.

    Script

    A professional screencast video producer uses a written script or an outline provided by the client to produce the video. There are many reasons as to why I recommend this. One is because, video scripting cuts the presentation time by half. One is able to save time by focusing on the most important features or sections of a software or a website and probably break down the presentation into sections where viewer can choose to watch a section they would want only.

    Professional Voice Over

    Voice over is very crucial as it explains what’s is happening on the screen. Some video editors are native English speakers and can do the presentations easily in a flawless manner. But this will not be appealing if professional quality equipment is not used in recording the voice over thus its important to consider hiring a professional voice over to record your script. Professional screencast video producers can source this on your behalf on freelancing sites like Upwork and Fiverr.

    Delivery Timelines

    Any professional screencast video producer is able to advise you on how long it will take to deliver your video. This will be based on if you provide the script, the expected video duration and whether the script you have needs a professional voice or not. Usually a 2-5 Minutes video tutorial takes 1-3 days to complete and deliver.

    Video Quality You Need

    As a client, you must know from the onset the quality of video you expect from the video producer you hire. This way, you will know if the editor is able to delivering the same. Video quality ranges from HD, FHD(Full HD) and UHD 2k,4k (Ultra HD).

    And that’s it. If you are able to get answers to these things upfront from the editor/producer, you are good to proceed to the next stage of hiring him/her to produce your video tutorial(s). Of-course, you must understand each other clearly when communicating in order to save time and speed up the process of production. Since business is all about building relationships, it is important to work with someone you can freely contact in times of need without a second thought.

    If you need professional help on video, let me know on here.

    Don’t forget to leave a comment below.

    Also, follow me on twitter @cheptionymutai

    Till next time, bye bye and take care.