Merged
This conversation has been merged. Please reference the main conversation: How can I share Camtasia projects between a Mac and Windows computer?
I work in technical marketing for Autodesk, and my team is responsible for capturing images and video of our software in use, and then editing/producing for distribution via the web, print, etc. Point being that at times we are capturing on either platform, but would like the flexibility for someone else on the team to edit/produce on another type of OS.
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- bummed...
Posted 9 years ago
Conan Heiselt, Employee
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There is a way to share recordings back and forth: http://www.techsmith.com/learn/camtas...
I recently tested taking recording files from Camtasia on the Mac (v.1.2) to the latest versions of Camtasia Studio (Windows) v.6 & 7. They worked fine.
If you do go from CS -> Cmac instead, make sure that you either go the route of recording as an AVI or producing a video file so that the cursor is preserved.
I know it's really not ideal, but hopefully this will allow you some flexibility in going back and forth between platforms in the mean time.
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Microsoft Office seems to do this.
Denba Canvas did this until ACD Systems bought them and stopped supporting the Mac platform.
Adobe does this with Illustrator and Photoshop.
I know that supporting the Mac platform is new for Techsmith, but I hope invest in the programming effort to do it up right, as opposed to just dabble in supporting the Mac platform.
After all, it truly is a much more stable OS anyway.
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Bruce Rothwell
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The Mac product also uses a file format called a Finder package/bundle which is Mac-only; Apple uses the same type of file for its iWork programs as well as in numerous places throughout OS X.
And remember that Camtasia for Mac and Camtasia Studio have different feature sets- if I had a project on the Mac with three video tracks, how do I convert that so it works on Camtasia Studio?
Hopefully at some point we will see a utility or other way to convert projects between platforms. FWiW, currently you would have the same issues if you were moving between, say Final Cut on Mac and Sony Vegas on Windows.
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My comparison two Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop is more suited here.
How does Miscrosoft deal with the file issue wiith the Office apps?
Now, I understand that there are certain features that you can develop on the Mac platform that you cannot on the Windows platform, but the quantity of video tracks should not be one of them.
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Bruce Rothwell
Conan Heiselt, Employee
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Thanks for your input. I'll be sure to pass your feedback on to the Camtasia project manager.
I agree the ideal would be for the two Camtasias to have interchangeable files and projects. We're definitely aware of the issue, but as David said above, it's rather complicated, mostly due to the history of the two products:
Camtasia Studio has been around for over ten years. Since then we've learned a lot. Camtasia on the Mac takes what we've learned and started over with the goal to make the best screencasting application we could. As it grows, we'll add new functionality based on what our customers ask for and need--so, we're listening. It'll just take some time; Camtasia on the Mac is still a v. 1 product.
Again, thanks for your patience and input. Keep it coming...
Conan.
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I work as a teacher at a university and at work I have a Windows setup with Camtasia, but starting this fall, I have a MacBook Pro for home and travel. I use Camtasia to give students feedback on animation and video assignments. For me the batch render on the Windows version has been crucial when I have to render out 80+ videos, and the ability to use the pen tool while recording is also very handy to pin point problems to students. Two feature which are absent from the Mac version. If I at least could open Mac recordings on the Windows version I could have used the Windows version to batch render while I keep recording new on the Mac, but no! Export from the Mac version is not producing the same quality with the same files size either. To get the same quality as I get with the default web publishing on the Windows version, the Mac mp4 file is twice the size, if not more! It might be that I can produce the same quality and files size on the Mac but the options when exporting on the Mac is simply a joke. A slider saying "Small file size" or "High quality"? Hello? How am I suppose to compare settings with the windows version when it says nothing about bit size and compression?
The solution to render out mp4 to import both takes time I do not have, and you loose the cursor information. It's simply not an option.
I'd say development of a tool to transfer recordings and projects between the two platforms should be Techsmith's #1 priority!
Everyone knows that in the software development industry of today, it's all about cross platform compatibility. Heck. it's already killed Adobe's hugs Flash platform for that exact reason. The fact that TechSmith does not take this serious makes TechSmith seem outdated, slow and doomed: Unless they change their focus and philosophy that is. :)
Hoping for a soon solution to this basic problem as it's been an issue since the Mac version came out!
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So, in that regard, Adobe does not offer cross-platform compatibiity.
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I am not knocking Techsmith here, quite the contrary. I use Camtasia Studio/SnagIt literally on a daily basis... I just want to see the tools get to the point where I can make my platform decision based on what makes the most sense from a platform strength standpoint.
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LO AND BEHOLD! It's 2012, yet Camtasia mac and Camtasia Windows create incompatible media. Fellas and gals, WHAT GOOD IS A PROGRAM, OPERATING ON WHICHEVER PLATFORM, IF IT CAN'T OPEN A FILE MADE BY WHAT IS OSTENSIBLY THE SAME PROGRAM? It is the height of lunacy to create a program for one platform and not make it compatible with the other platform. Are you guys nuts? And you think I'm going to bother buying this program when you can't get your act together? No, here's what happens...I go to my client, tell him that his Windows verasion of your program doesn't work with the Mac version of the same program, and advise him NOT to buy from TechSmith. It's that simple...you lose unless you come up with a good way to open not an AVI file or a QT movie (hell, I can take the orginal PPT and the video recording he made and create my own, I don't need Camtasia's help), but the full Camtasia project.
Really, guys. It's 2012...both kind of computers live and work out there, get with the program!
This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled
Camtasia Windows vs. Camtasia Mac - not compatible; WHO ARE YOU KIDDING?.
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I also wanted help from a colleague who has ('had' at this point) 2 days where she could have helped me, but guess what? She has a Mac, too. So we are just wasting time.
The website should definitely highlight this problem.
I want my money back :((.
Paul Middlin, Employee
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This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled
Allow me to transfer Camtasia project files between Mac and Windows.
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actually, i am switching to mac. therefore i downloaded the trial camtasia for mac.
i found no way to open my camtasia windows projects in the mac version and vice versa. the file extensions are also different.
i cannot believe that. could you please tell me how to exchange my projects between these two?
thanks t.
This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled
Incompatibility of Camtasia MAC and Camtasia Windows.
Paul Middlin, Employee
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1. What types of things are you doing where this is needed? Jay's example a the top, for instance, where he needs to record on one platform and have a different person on the other platform do the editing.
2. What do you need more/first: being able to import a recording from the other platform, or a project that already has edits? Why?
Knowing this like this will help us get the right/best solutions the fastest, so we really truly appreciate your input and help!!
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Hope that helps.
Thank you,
Heather
Conan Heiselt, Employee
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In Camtasia for Mac you can hide the cursor by:
1) selecting the recording in timeline
2) open the properties & select the cursor properties
3) reduce the opacity to 0%
Here's a quick screencast showing the above: http://www.screencast.com/t/hTwftnwJskeJ
Also, the MP4 from the standard Export option should open just fine in Camtasia Studio in Windows.
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That was not intuitive to me. It is confusing that there's a properties section that shows up on the right, and then there's also a panel where you can choose effects on the left. Shouldnt it all be on the same side of the screen, to avoid confusion?
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Sadly, since I can't be sure that will work, we use other products.
Paul Middlin, Employee
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How is this even a question?
Paul Middlin, Employee
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That's why it would be very helpful to know what you do and need most, first, to help us carve out a path from here to full cross platform support.
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First, try building an exporter that converts the PC project to Mac format, and vice versa. It doesn't seem that should be too impossible as it looks like your project files are XML and audio mp3, so you mainly need to convert the video codecs and maintain the edit points.
Take the most difficult technical problem first, solve that to make sure you can, then take the next most difficult, etc. Meantime, make it clear to customers that there is no cross platform support at this time, b/c most people assume that if you have a product for the Mac and for the PC, they can move files from one to the other as most software that supports both platforms works that way.
HTH.
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Guess I'll be resurrecting a PC.
This was the reason it took me so long to switch to a Mac btw. I have a heavy investment in Camtasia and Snagit with years of projects.
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I use Camtasia to record usability tests. Some of these are conducted in the field using my MacBook Pro. Some of them are conducted in our onsite usability lab which has PCs running Windows 7. Recordings from the PC are backed up on a shared server so that they do not take space on the usability lab machines, and also for (supposedly) easy access from anywhere.
My bare bones needs are to view the recordings from the windows machine that I put on the server, from my Mac. Preferably without spending several hours transferring or converting them between devices. I do not usually need to edit the recordings.
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We need to be able to create the project on Camtasia for Windows, and then edit the project in Camtasia for Mac (including Callouts, etc.). Then be able to edit again in Camtasia for Windows.
So basically we are looking for compatibility similar to MS Word - you can edit a .DOCX word document either using Word 2013 for Windows or Word 2011 for Mac - the same document can be edited in either platform without import/export. (So you can open/edit Camtasia projects in either Camtasia 8 for Windows or Camtasia 2 for Mac - it is completely inter-changeable)
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A new client, however, is not Mac-oriented and just informed us that in addition to needing exports of various sizes, he needs to receive the original files and assets in the PC version.
I have two issues--the first being a financial consideration with asking folks to buy software for a platform they are using for only one client. The relatively low cost of Camtasia for Mac allows us to use multiple computers in order to get the job done efficiently.
The second consideration is that if the client asks us to provide what we did on our Macs in Camtasia Studio, which assets can we copy over without going back and re-creating everything? Better yet, wouldn't it be great if a whole project created in Mac 2.0 was able to be imported into Camtasia Studio?!
Paul Middlin, Employee
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we have the situation where we have some people who will be recording the video projects on a Windows PC but the editing and production of the video will be completed on a Mac.
So is it possible to transfer projects between Camtasia Studio and Camtasia for Mac?
Many thanks,
Paul Croston
This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled
Transferring projects between Windows and Mac.
Daniel Foster, Snagit strategy lead
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We also appreciate any details you can share about your cross-platform needs and how we can better support your workflows.
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http://techsmith.custhelp.com/app/ans...
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I have limited knowledge of Camtasia, but am a video editor and producer by trade, and so have to deal with editing, media and cross-platform situations all the time. To say I was shocked that Camtasia wasn't cross-platform is an understatement. I mean, I expect that sort of bone-headedness from Intuit, but not from a media software company. Neverthless...
You ask what's most important, and my off-the-top answer is "everything". However when I think about it...for me, the most important thing here is to be able to open an edited (and editable) project file across platforms. If there's a bit of media conversion involved (avi-to-QT, whatever), that's fine. But at this point, I have a client who's sent me some Camtasia Studio recordings done on a Windows box, and wants some "small edits" done to them...which I can't do on my Mac. I'd be willing to do the media conversion myself if I could open up the project and actually see what he's talking about...
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No doubt you have noticed the vast difference in features between the Windows and Mac versions. Obviously, we would have to close that gap in order to even begin addressing the cross-platform issue.
However, there are some things that each version does that may not even be possible on the other platform. One thing that comes to mind are visual/audio effects. At some point, I remember seeing that C:Mac can make use of whatever CoreVideo/CoreAudio filters you had present on your machine. None of these will exist on the Windows side (Quicktime for Windows is horrible). The same is true of the transitions on Windows. None of them are currently supported on the Mac side. At some point, they made add transitions, but they may not have an identical set of them.
So I guess the question becomes: What do you expect to happen in those cases? For the effects, it's probably fine just to not render them. That makes it impossible to edit them on the other platform, but not much can be done about that.
But transitions are slightly more integral to the project. They affect the timeline length in some cases, so removing them is not an option. I suppose we could just render a big sad-face on the screen during the transition? :-).
These are the types of things I'm concerned with when I consider cross-platform support. It will be difficult at best to get full parity between the two versions. But I think we could probably achieve importing/exporting projects. The assumption would just be that you would lose/be unable to edit any features not present on the target platform.
By the way, most of these issues stem from the fact that the target audience on each platform is slightly different. I think the pro-level editors ignore the fact that Mac users expect the UI to act a certain way, while Windows users usually expect the complete opposite. Then you end up with an application that's hard to use on *both* platforms.
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Please keep the great feedback coming. That way, when we DO address the issue, we can do it right.
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This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled
Camtasia/Mac compatible with Camtasia/Windows?.
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(Warning: FX missing!) -- thats all you need.
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Even if its just to open the files and export/import... hey I'm working at that point.
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As the feature set on the Windows side is apparently larger, I'm wondering how easy/hard it is to share files, import, export from one OS to the other.
Or... like SnagIt, would the process be more like saving a .mov, .mp4, or .m4v file?
This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled
Cross platform (win/mac) Camtasia work flow.
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Paul Middlin, Employee
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Thanks!
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This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled
Importing captures from camtasia 8 to camtasia for mac..
Paul Middlin, Employee
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http://www.techsmith.com/tutorial-cam...
Paul Middlin, Employee
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I have the mac version but 80% of my projects involve recording captures from windows primarily because telecommunication, programming, and enterprise apps are still mostly windows based.
Our creative team however is mac based. I had hoped interoperability had made its way to v.8. I encourage techsmith to look at creating project files that can be opened up on either mac or windows.
To close on a positive note, I also want to say thanks for the ability to publish now to all devices. That is awesome!
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The designs/themes for the HTML(Flash) publishing look entirely different
Conan Heiselt, Employee
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Both Camtasias can output identical Flash players depending on what versions you have.
Camtasia Studio 7.1 and Camtasia for Mac 2.1 (and before) can produce the same player, just choose the "Overlay" player when producing in Camtasia Studio.
Also, Camtasia Studio 8 and Camtasia for Mac 2.2 also produce with the same player by default (with CS 8 choose the "Transparent" player).
Is that what you mean, or did I misunderstand what you're looking for?
Conan.
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I have a colaboration i want to make...I am on a mac..and my partner is on a pc.. I have put together a green screen recodring, and the idea was that I share my .cmproj files with him, so he could open them up in windows, and play my creation from start, and add his Green screen recording at same time... then he would send it back to me, and i would complete the eedit, and finalize project. so it would look like we weere being interviewed from same location...but we are not... Is this possible?..and please dont refer to the above url, which is NOT clear...
Paul Middlin, Employee
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So, what I would recommend for you would be to have your partner send you a produced movie in the .h264 format of his green screen video. Then take that into your project on mac to make the edits you were speaking of, where the Remove a Color feature exists (it is not yet available on Windows).
I hope this helps.
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I expected the software to work like any other piece of software thats available on multiple platforms e.g. Photoshop or Powerpoint i.e. you can create and edit on multiple platforms.
I have a Mac at Home, PC in the office, so it's essential for me.
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I'm a faculty developer at Ohio State using a Mac. I have Camtasia Studio running on Parallels and I have to ditch that program because the combination of Parallels and Camtasia Studio slow my system down to where nothing works.
So... I'm getting Camtasia Mac... in hopes that the projects I'm helping faculty build can bounce back and forth between my Mac system and their PC system.
Very poor design Techsmith. If you are branding the Mac version as "Camtasia" then the file formats and user experience should be virtually identical.
Richard Campbell, Champion
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Consider yourself lucky that the Ohio State techies support both platforms - many universites won't.
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If you had to rebuild the app for the next full version that would be great.
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Jay Tedeschi
Thanks for your attention in this matter.
Charles
Daniel Foster, Snagit strategy lead
brucerothwell
The key to remember is that when using Parallels, you are sharing resources between the host (OSX) and the virtual (Windows), so there can an issues there.
Try Parallels first, and see how it works for you, but be prepared to go to a Bootcamp configuration if stability and performance becomes an issue.
Daniel Foster, Snagit strategy lead