Best settings for this setup: content coming in from a high-end DLSR, Apple Motion files, and screen captures using Camtasia

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I'm looking for the best settings and tips for taking in media clips from a high high-end DLSR, Apple Motion, and native Camtasia screen recordings w/ Camtasia animations. Do I have to worry about the resolution of the monitor being captured (an iMac) + the Apple Motion export dimensions + the settings of the footage from the DLSR? Thanks so much!!! Oh, Ps. the output is to youtube HD.
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Jigs Gaton, Consultant

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Posted 2 years ago

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2 years ago
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Paul Middlin, Employee

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yeah, you do do have to 'worry' about it a little bit. For example, let's say your DSLR gives you 1080p (1920x1080) and what you produced out of Apple Motion was, oh, 720p (1280x720). Your screen is probably neither. Mine's 2880x1800 (retina 15" Macbook).

So now what?

You have to decide what your canvas will be- what dimensions you want your *final* video to be when you're done. That's what you'll set your canvas to. Then you can shrink/stretch all the videos into that space. You may find yourself zooming in and panning around a little with your screen video to make it clearer, since it is such high resolution. Play around with it a bit on a few short clips to see what you feel looks best.
2017-05-10T13:03:00+00:00
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Jigs Gaton, Consultant

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Thx Paul. The final output is to YouTube 720HD. I'm using an iMac (2560 x 1440). Still not sure what to set the initial camtasia project size (currently 1280x720), and I assume I just output the same, right? Cheers!

Ps, I am mostly worried about blurry screen caps, as it seems there are a lot of those out there :) 
(Edited)
2017-05-10T14:54:39+00:00
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Paul Middlin, Employee

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Yes- set your project size (canvas size, whatever) to what you want this video to be in the end. That's 720p for you, so you're doing it right.

Squishing your screen capture down from 1440 to 720 will definitely make it a little blurry. You can zoom in to 100% size as you need to, or you CAN reduce your screen resolution to 720p before you start recording. It's less area to work with, but helps you stay in a size that will look great in your video. I think you'll be OK with shrinking it though, since it's exactly 50% size, and that shrinking usually looks decent, compared with shrinking to weird sizes (37%, say).
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